


Somewhere Only We Know

by krasnyye



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, I'm Bad At Titles, i just wanted Kobik and Nat and Bucky to be soft okay, my Russian is so bad but I Tried please be kind, this is entirely self-indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-12-31 22:26:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18323195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krasnyye/pseuds/krasnyye
Summary: Bucky's having trouble shaking his demons and Natasha comes to the rescue (with a little help)





	Somewhere Only We Know

Natasha found him in his favorite spot, curled up in a room of the tower no one ever used (she truthfully wasn’t sure Tony even remembered it existed and it was his tower). No JARVIS or FRIDAY, no working lights, and no furniture to speak of aside from a handful of scattered crates that had been manhandled into a makeshift window-seat. He frequented the quiet and seclusion of his little sanctuary on the days he found himself unable to shake the ghosts from his past. It occurred much less as of late but no one was ever truly free of their past- least of all the Winter Soldier.

With his legs folded underneath him and a scraggly black cat sprawled across his chest, James Barnes was fast asleep. The hand he didn’t have buried in the cat’s fur was thrown haphazardly over his eyes to block the rays of the early morning sun. The light bounced off the metal of his arm, splattering kaleidoscopic patterns across the ceiling. Natasha crept her way into the room and the cat squinted beady yellow eyes her way, stretching itself across the soldiers’ shoulders.

“ _Tishina_ , Liho, don’t wake him yet.” Natasha murmured, folding her body into the small space he’d left open beside him. 

Bucky shifted in his sleep and Liho dutifully curled around his throat, earning herself a sleepy stroke of the head as he tried to stretch his legs. He was met with resistance in the form of Natasha, whose soft laughter filled the room as she scooped his legs into her lap to rub soothing circles into his calf muscles. He hummed and peeked out from under his arm.

“Hello, _zvezda moya_.” she greeted.

“What’re you doin’ here, ‘talia?”

“JARVIS told me you had left your room. He was concerned.”

“JARVIS, huh?” he raised an eyebrow, “You sure it wasn’t the motion detector you had Tony install in my doorway? The one you thought I wouldn’t notice? Or maybe the tracker you put in your goblin’s collar?”

She shrugged, “In my defense, JARVIS did alert me that your stress levels were elevated and when the door alarm went off right after, I had a hunch you’d head here. Liho only came because she likes to nap with you.”

“I guess that makes two of you then, _kotyonok_." he ruffled the cat’s ears and kissed the top of her head. Liho loosed an indignant yowl, kneading her claws into his chest before stalking away to drape herself across the back of Natasha’s shoulders like an aging opera singer. 

“Alright, _serzhant_ , come on; let’s get you back to bed.”

Natasha stood and extended her hand for him to take. James, of course, bypassed this and opted instead to stretch- his metal arm whirring and clicking as panels shifted with the ripple of his muscles- and plant a kiss on the column of her neck before allowing her to lead him away. Liho hopped down from Natasha’s shoulders and made a beeline for the couch where Clint and Lucky had passed out, watching what seemed to be reruns of The Twilight Zone. Lucky harrumphed as Liho made herself comfortable on his back. He licked her nose before resting his head back on Clint’s thigh. 

“Don’t be up too late, ‘Tasha,” Clint yawned, “use protection and whatnot.”

“Quit sleeping on the couch, Barton,” she returned, ruffling his hair as she passed and ignoring the discontented grumble it got her in reply, “Lucky, _ataka_.” 

She caught a glimpse of the dog’s ears pricking up as Lucky carefully took Liho by the scruff of her neck and placed her on the opposite end of the couch before launching himself at his master's stomach. Clint groaned and tried to fend the golden blur of a dog off to no avail. 

He shouted for Natasha to call him off after reasoning with Lucky failed to pay off and Natasha only replied with, “Don’t be a prick next time! Dobroy nochi, Barton,” before she and Bucky fled the living room, a mess of laughter and sleep-laden limbs. 

Finally back to her room, Natasha placed her hand on the sensor and waited for JARVIS to let her back in. 

“I assume I am to lock the door for anyone but Mr. Barnes and yourself, as per usual?”

“If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course not,” JARVIS replied, the sound of the lock clicking into place following swiftly, “Sleep well, Mr. Barnes, I’m sorry you seem to be having a rough night.” 

“S’fine buddy, I’ve lived through worse.” 

“If you require my assistance, please call. Otherwise, I’ll take my leave.”

“Thank you. Goodnight.” Natasha waited for a beat to assure that JARVIS was gone before falling back onto the bed. When it didn’t dip beside her to signify that Bucky had laid down, she cracked an eye at him. “Why are you not in my arms right now?”

He ducked his head, scratching behind his ear, “Sorry, you just looked so peaceful, I uh… guess I got a little caught up.”

“Come here, _lyubov moya_ ,” she sat up against the headboard and opened her arms for him, trying to hide her smile as he crawled into them and rested his head against her thigh. She bent to kiss his forehead and worried a strand of his hair between her thumb and forefinger, “Do you want to talk about what happened this time?”

The serenity on his face faded and she ached for the way his eyes glossed over. 

“I shot you.” 

“You did.” she agreed, “but if I recall correctly, I gave as good as I got,” she walked her fingers down his torso and brushed them across the scar that grazed his side, a retaliatory shot from the night he put a bullet through her to get to his target in Odessa. 

He didn’t react.

“You know I don’t blame you for what you did, don’t you?” Natasha questioned. “If anyone understands what it means to be a weapon, it’s me. You could’ve shot me in the head, you know. It would’ve been more efficient for the mission. But you went for my abdomen- through and through- clean as you can get a shot from that far away.” she kissed his temple, “You were present enough to know to incapacitate not kill.”

“I should have been present enough not to shoot at all.”

“James Buchanan Barnes, you look at me right now.” he obeyed her, albeit reluctantly, “ _Ya lyublyu tebya, zvezda moya_. What we did for the Red Room and for HYDRA is in the past. We can’t change who we were or what we did, but we can damn well try to make the most of who we are now and the opportunities we’ve been given. The Winter Soldier took that shot and the Black Widow returned fire, just like they were trained. James and Natalia made sure those shots weren’t fatal. And now we’re safe, surrounded by our friends- our family- and we have a chance to be ourselves- who we never thought we’d get the chance to be then. Do you understand what that means?”

“But how long will this last? How long will it be before something else comes along? Before someone finds those trigger words and I’m right back where I started? Before they wipe you and you don’t remember anything but the Room? Before someone gets killed and these choices are taken away from us?”

“We can’t worry about the future like that, James. We didn’t have that luxury then and we don’t now; that’s something that’s never going to change. All we can worry about is today- right now- just us, in this room, together. You can’t account for everything the future holds and it’s never going to go exactly the way you think it will. What is meant to be will be. Right now, we’re okay. Right now, we’re safe. And that’s all that matters.”

Bucky opened his mouth to continue but an insistent alarm cut him off. 

“JARVIS, report,” Natasha demanded, her voice laced with barely-contained panic and Bucky was immediately on guard.

“Young Kobik has not been in her room since approximately 2:09 a.m... She was blocking my sensors, I cannot find- She… has requested entrance. She says she is worried for Mr. Barnes and I have told her repeatedly that the doors are locked but she refuses to leave-leave-le-lea--”

“Finally.” Kobik huffed, “Tasha can you hear me? Can I please come in? I wanna see Buckaroo, I know something’s wrong and I want to see him and you should let me in to help make him better.” 

“Bikya, it’s late, what are you doing awake let alone worrying about Bucky?”

“Well, see-”

“That uh… That would be my fault, sorry.” Tony piped in. He was- in fact- not at all sorry. “The kid had a nightmare and came to hang out in the lab until she was ready to go back to bed. She might have overheard the alarm for Snowflake’s door and gotten nervous. You know how she gets when she’s nervous, Nat, I stalled her as long as I could.” 

Natasha exhaled and put her head in her hands, laughing in spite of herself. Her little extortionist was learning fast. Soon even Natasha wouldn’t be able to tell her no (as if she ever could).

“You can let her in, JARVIS. She won’t go away unless you do and you know Kobik will just break Natasha’s door again.” Bucky sighed.

“-eave-ve. Oh good lord. Mr. Stark, please refrain from letting the child hack into my mainframe again. You said you had installed better security methods this time…” JARVIS grumbled, unlocking the door for Tony and Kobik. 

“Sorry JARVIS.” the pair chorused as Tony hoisted Kobik up, slinging her onto the bed on Natasha’s left and ruffling her hair. “Bruce and I are in the lab if you need anything.” 

“Don’t stay up too late, Tony!” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you sound like my mother…” and with that, he was gone and the door locked behind him.

Kobik crawled over Natasha to cup Bucky’s face and frowned, “Did you have a bad dream? Can I see it? I can help!”

“Not tonight, Kobik.”

She nodded and nosed her way under his arm, flush against his side, “Okay Buckaroo... But Tasha and I are here now so it’s gonna be alright. Right?”

“Right. No more bad dreams tonight, we’ll make sure of it.” Natasha agreed. “Now, if you two are going to take over my bed at five in the morning we’re all going to try to sleep. Bikya, make room for me and scoot up so you and Bucky can lay down like proper human beings.” 

“I’m not a human!” Kobik chirped as she crawled up to take the empty spot beside Natasha. 

Bucky reluctantly followed suit, placing a kiss on the tip of Natasha’s nose when he’d gotten comfy. Kobik had curled up in her original position against Bucky’s side and Natasha had been prompted to lay across his chest, her head safely tucked in the crook of his neck. Kobik’s bright blue eyes fell closed as Natasha hummed nonsense lullabies, carding her fingers through Bucky’s hair. 

“Go to bed now, please; both of you. I’m tired. I love you.” Natasha yawned, earning a chuckle from Bucky that rumbled through her body. The two chorused back their goodnights and I love you’s and the room fell silent. 

The first to fall asleep was Kobik, whose soft, sleeping glow tinted the room a gentle sky blue that swirled with her dreams. A team of horses pranced across the ceiling, pulling a beautiful carriage to the steps of a palace (they had watched Anastasia together the night before and Kobik was quite taken with it, it seemed). After Kobik was Natasha, who mumbled “Sleep, _lyubov moya_ , you’re safe,” into the hollow of Bucky’s collarbone before allowing herself to pass out. 

Bucky stayed awake a while longer, watching what had become his family sleeping peacefully, reminding himself of Natasha’s earlier advice; right now, they were okay. Right now, they were safe. And that was all that mattered.

Memories of HYDRA and bullet trains and guns and knives and blood and death slowly faded from his mind, replaced with Kobik’s laughter as she clung to his shoulders, Tony’s bright smile as he finally got a new suit to perform the way he had intended, Natasha singing quiet Russian as she cooked while Steve danced her around the kitchen, Sam, Sharon, Liho, Lucky, and Clint asleep in a pile on the couch, Loki and Thor talking softly in the corner drinking coffee, a contented smile on Bruce’s face, a reassuring pat on the back from Rhodey, Peter and Tony shooting toy guns at one another in the lab only to be brought to their knees by Pepper and Maria who had somehow snuck in; countless little things that- for the moment- soothed the racing of his heart. 

Here, he found peace. And sleep wasn’t far behind.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've ever posted anything on here rip. I hope it's alright thank you for reading it, either way, ya'll are my heart and soul💕💕💕
> 
> Russian Translations!:
> 
> Tishina: Hush
> 
> Zvezda moya: My star
> 
> Kotyonok: Kitten
> 
> Serzhant: Sergeant
> 
> Ataka: Attack
> 
> Dobroy Nochi: Good night
> 
> Lyubov moya: My love
> 
> Sladkiy moy: My Sweet
> 
> Ya lyublyu tebya: I love you


End file.
